What To Expect When Experiencing Hearing Loss

Hearing loss impacts your day-to-day life. From communication challenges to altered soundscapes, it’s easy to feel stressed and frustrated.

Understanding what to expect during this process is crucial for fostering positivity and embracing solutions. At Nano Hearing Aids, we’re dedicated to helping people just like you navigate hearing loss. Read on to find out what you can expect during this process, and how you can take the steps necessary to improve your hearing health.

Hearing loss is the partial or complete inability to hear sounds as you did before. This deterioration of your hearing system can occur at any age, resulting from factors like:

Hearing loss can manifest as struggling to identify faint sounds, difficulty understanding speech, or a complete loss of hearing. Consequently, someone with hearing loss may struggle to communicate and understand the world around them.

Though hearing loss typically can’t be reversed, there are treatments that improve quality of life. Hearing healthcare professionals can help by recommending and providing interventions like hearing aids, cochlear implants, or other assistive devices.

There are three different types of hearing loss. Depending on which type you experience, you can expect differing outcomes and impacts. Here are the three types of hearing loss outlined:

As well as the types of hearing loss, you can also experience different stages of hearing loss. Each stage affects how deeply your hearing loss impacts your life.

As hearing loss can be a progressive experience, it’s important to address it in the early stages. This ensures your best quality of life going forward.

However, there will always be ways to treat your hearing loss, regardless of the stage you’re experiencing.

Hearing loss can impact your daily life in many different ways. If you want to know whether or not you’re experiencing hearing loss, consider these common symptoms:

• Difficulty Understanding Spoken Words: When in noisy situations or areas with a lot of background noise, you may struggle to understand conversations. Often, you’ll find yourself hearing the wrong word or misunderstanding a sentence.
• Frequently Requesting Repetition: You might find yourself needing to ask others to repeat themselves or speak louder.
• Turning Up the Volume: Electronic devices like TVs and radios may start sounding too quiet, requiring you to turn up the volume.
• Difficulty Having Phone Conversations: You might struggle to hear the person on the other end of the line during phone conversations.
• Unable to Hear High-Pitched Sounds: High-pitched sounds can be especially hard to hear. This includes singing birds, insect buzzing, whistles, and certain instruments.
• Ringing in Your Ears (Tinnitus): You may experience discomfort from persistent ringing or buzzing in your ears.
• Lack of Balance and Dizziness: Feeling off-center or dizzy are also common side effects of hearing loss.
• Fatigue or Stress: Straining to hear day to day is often mentally and physically exhausting, leading to increased stress or fatigue.
• Avoiding Social Activities: Due to communication difficulties, you might start withdrawing from social gatherings or activities.

If you experience hearing loss, you can experience all or just some of these daily impacts and symptoms. Hearing loss is different for everyone, and it’s important to take notice of what you’re experiencing. That way, you can seek proper treatment.

Hearing loss can be an uncomfortable and stressful experience, but there are many ways you can alleviate symptoms. Here are some effective ways you can start your hearing loss treatment journey today:

Seeking Professional Help

If you’re worried that you might be experiencing hearing loss, you should speak with a hearing healthcare professional. These professionals can help by giving you a hearing test, discussing treatment options, and answering questions.

First, completing a hearing test will help confirm the level of hearing loss you’re experiencing. With this information, your hearing healthcare professional can then recommend the best course of action.

If they decide that hearing aids are the right solution, you can get a prescription and schedule a future fitting appointment.

Trying OTC Hearing Aids

Over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids can also be a great way to address and alleviate hearing loss. Through reliable providers like Nano Hearing Aids, you’ll have access to a variety of devices that can be fitted to your ears.

Generally speaking, OTC hearing aids are the fastest, easiest, and most affordable method of addressing mild or moderate hearing loss.

Community Support

One of the best methods of managing hearing loss is fostering community support. Don’t be ashamed to confide in your friends and family members about your challenges. Let them know what they can do to help support you.

This is especially important during the process of adapting to new hearing aids, as supportive loved ones can help you cope with new changes.

Hearing Loss FAQ